CEVA Logistics, one of the world’s leading supply chain companies, announced today a new three-year agreement and strategic partnership with Michelin to manage its tire warehouse located at Michelin’s plant in Valladolid, Spain. Michelin is one of the world’s leading tire manufacturers, designing and selling tires for every type of vehicle, including airplanes, automobiles, bicycles, earthmovers, farm equipment, heavy-duty trucks and motorcycles. Under the contract, CEVA will handle warehousing services, inventory management, picking and loading transport bound for Michelin customers, automotive manufacturers, spare part and maintenance companies from a space of approximately 25,000 sq m. CEVA handles a range of tires for luxury touring vehicles, agricultural vehicles and trucks, totaling more than five million items per year. Fernando Tamames, Logistics Purchasing Director of Michelin in Iberia, said: “We are satisfied to have signed this partnership as we believe that the logistics operator will be able to guarantee highly efficient services which will allow us to optimize our supply chain processes with a consequent reduction in logistics cost. CEVA and Michelin share the same attitude to the relentless search for quality and customer satisfaction; this, combined with CEVA’s expertise in this sector, will allow us to provide our final customers with an excellent, punctual service.” Óscar Martinez, Senior Business Development Manager of CEVA in Iberia, agreed: “We are proud that Michelin has chosen CEVA as a strategic partner for their logistics. We are well aware of the challenges that characterize this market and have developed cutting-edge solutions to manage storage, distribution and reverse logistics activities in an impeccable and fast way, which is essential in this sector.” This partnership further consolidates CEVA’s presence in the Automotive sector, in particular the tire segment. CEVA has developed extensive expertise in tire logistics, reducing cost, releasing working capital, managing complex supply chains and handling shorter order-to-delivery cycles on behalf of many international tire and automotive brands. Core systems, developed from the best tire operations in the world, balance process needs with the IT support required to execute them. CEVA works with Michelin in several other countries around the world including in Thailand. Here, CEVA handles the inbound movement of tires from Michelin’s production plants into warehouse facilities in three main locations across Thailand; Laemchabang, Nongkea and Nongree. As part of its integrated solution for Michelin, CEVA ensures that the tires and accessories are delivered, handled and presented correctly to meet Michelin’s service level requirements. The operation in Spain began in April 2013 and thanks to CEVA’s Zero Defect Start-up (ZDS) methodology, the implementation was flawless. ZDS is a process that relies both on best practices and accurate planning for error-free contract start-up, with clear pre-agreed targets between the customer and CEVA.